Apollo.io

Create Your Apollo.io Account and Select a Plan

Begin by creating an Apollo.io account at apollo.io. The free plan provides access to limited credits per month and basic prospecting features, but does not include API access or advanced CRM integrations. For teams planning to integrate Apollo.io with Salesforce, access the API, or use advanced automation, the Professional plan ($49/user/month billed annually as of 2024) or Organization plan ($79/user/month) is required. Review the integration access table on Apollo's pricing page before committing to a plan, as integration availability is a frequent source of frustration for users who discover feature gates after sign-up — a concern echoed across [Apollo.io G2 reviews](https://www.g2.com/products/apollo-io/reviews). Once your account is created, navigate to Settings > Integrations to see the full list of available connectors.

Connect Your Email Client (Gmail or Outlook)

Apollo.io integrates with both Gmail and Microsoft Outlook for email sending, tracking, and inbox synchronization. To connect Gmail, navigate to Settings > Integrations > Email and click 'Connect Gmail Account' — this initiates a standard Google OAuth flow where you grant Apollo permission to send emails on your behalf and track opens and clicks. For Outlook, the process uses Microsoft OAuth. A common issue with Outlook connections is OAuth token expiration — if your Outlook sync breaks, navigate back to Settings > Integrations > Email and re-authenticate. Apollo also supports SMTP and IMAP connections for custom email providers. Once connected, configure your sending limits and email signature to match your deliverability best practices before launching sequences.

Connect Your CRM (HubSpot, Salesforce, Pipedrive, or Zoho)

Navigate to Settings > Integrations > CRM and select your CRM provider. For HubSpot, the connection is OAuth-based and available on Basic plans and above. For Salesforce, you will need your Salesforce org URL, a Salesforce user with API access, and Professional or Organization plan access in Apollo. After authenticating, configure field mappings — defining which Apollo contact fields map to which CRM fields. Enable bi-directional sync for contacts and accounts. Set your sync frequency (real-time or hourly). A critical configuration step is setting duplicate detection rules: choose whether Apollo should merge records with matching email addresses or create new records, because misconfigured duplicate settings are one of the most common causes of data quality issues during CRM sync. Test the integration by manually pushing a single test contact from Apollo to your CRM before enabling automated sync.

Install the Apollo.io Chrome Extension

Install the Apollo.io Chrome Extension from the Chrome Web Store by searching 'Apollo.io' or navigating directly from the Integrations settings page. Once installed, log in to the extension with your Apollo credentials. Navigate to a LinkedIn profile — the extension will display an Apollo panel alongside the profile showing matched contact data, including verified emails, phone numbers, and the option to add the contact to an Apollo sequence or export to your CRM. The extension also works on company websites and LinkedIn company pages. Note that the extension captures publicly available profile data and matches it against Apollo's database — it does not extract private LinkedIn data. If Apollo does not have a match for a profile, you can submit the contact for enrichment. Keep the extension updated to avoid version conflicts that can cause the overlay to fail on LinkedIn.

Generate an API Key and Test Your First API Call

To access the Apollo.io API, navigate to Settings > Integrations > API and generate an API key. Store this key securely — it grants full access to your Apollo account's data and actions. API access is available on paid plans. Test authentication by making a simple GET request to the people search endpoint. The API uses your key as a query parameter or in the request header. All endpoints return JSON. Confirm your plan's rate limits before building production pipelines — exceeding rate limits results in 429 errors. If you are using Maestro for GTM orchestration, paste your Apollo API key into Maestro's Apollo connector settings to enable enriched contact data to flow into your campaign workflows automatically.

curl --request POST \
  --url https://api.apollo.io/v1/people/search \
  --header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  --header 'Cache-Control: no-cache' \
  --data '{
    "api_key": "YOUR_API_KEY",
    "q_organization_domains": "apollo.io",
    "page": 1,
    "per_page": 10
  }'

Set Up a Zapier or Make Automation for Extended Workflow Connectivity

For tools not natively supported by Apollo.io — such as Instantly, Lemlist, Notion, Airtable, or custom internal tools — use Zapier or Make to build automated workflows. In Zapier, search for the Apollo.io app and choose a trigger (e.g., 'New Contact Added to List') or action (e.g., 'Create or Update Contact'). Connect your Apollo.io account via API key. Then configure the second app in your workflow — for example, connecting Apollo.io to Instantly by triggering a Zapier flow when contacts are added to an Apollo list and automatically adding them as leads in an Instantly campaign. In Make, you can build more complex multi-step workflows with conditional branching — useful for deduplication logic or routing contacts to different sequences based on firmographic attributes. Test your automation with a single record before activating it at full volume.